Obadiah Stane was the business partner of Tony Stark and a good friend of his father, Howard Stark. After Howard Stark's death, Stane became CEO of Stark Industries until Tony Stark came of age and took over, as a result Stane lost his position of power he had enjoyed for years.

Stane's jealousy of the younger Stark led him to organize an assassination attempt on him so he could become CEO once again. When this failed Stane created his own Iron Man armor and attempted to kill Stark himself, leading to his own death.

Contents

Biography

Early Life

Obadiah Stane was a businessman who worked in partnership with Howard Stark during the early years of Stark Industries inception, assisting him and Anton Vanko in the designs of the Arc Reactor technology and many other inventions. Stane took over as CEO of the company after Stark's untimely death in a car accident. Stane's time as CEO made him highly egotistical as he took great pride in his work and the respect it gained him.

He later was forced to step down from his position to become the firm's second-in-command when the young Tony Stark came of age. Fueled by anger and jealously, Stane began cooperating with the Ten Rings terrorists in Afghanistan, contracting them to kill Tony so that he could resume control over Stark Industries after getting tired of being second in command.[1]

Stane presented himself as a close and loyal friend to Tony Stark. When Stark did not appear to accept his award in Caesars Palace, Stane took his place and gave an affectionate tribute to him, claiming that the reason Stark was not in attendance would be that he was working, despite being fully aware that Stark would most likely be gambling in a casino with a beautiful woman. The next day Stark flew to Afghanistan to debut Stark Industries' new Jericho missile.

Stane called Stark to check how the presentation went; soon after they spoke, the Ten Rings attacked and failed to kill Stark, instead they kidnapped him. The Ten Rings soon realized who their target was and felt they had not been paid enough to kill Tony Stark. They kept him alive to use to their own advantage by having him build them the Jericho Missile. Instead Stark used his time to build the Iron Man Armor: Mark I and escape by fighting back against his captors, being found by the military and returned home shortly afterwards.[1]

Stark's Return

Stane met with Stark outside Stark Industries where he had organized a press event for Stark to talk about his experiences. Still clearly traumatized by what he had witnessed, Stark informed the attendees that due to seeing young American soldiers killed by his own weapons, he had decided to immediately shut down Stark Industries' weapons division. Stane jumped in and moved Stark away from the podium and attempted to convince the audience that there was nothing to be concerned about.[1]

Controlling Tony Stark

Stane met with Tony Stark by the prototype large-scale Arc Reactor inside Stark Industries. They discussed how Stane was now forced to go to meetings with Stark Industries' investors to negotiate how the company would continue without its weapons division, he continued to try and convince Stark to change his mind on the matter but Stark remained convicted to his decision. Having made it clear that James Rhodes had updated him on the technology he had used to escape, Stane insisted upon inspecting Stark's miniaturized Arc Reactor in his chest.

With more meetings with more investors, Stane recommended to the board of directors that Stark be removed from his position within the company. He met with Stark and Pepper Potts at Tony Stark's Mansion where he gave out pizza and told Stark that it was the board's decision to push him out. In an attempt to learn more about Stark's new technology, Stane once again attempted to gain access to either his Arc Reactor or whatever designs he was working on in his basement, but Stark continued to refuse.[1]

Confession

Stane arranged a party for Stark Industries but did not invite Tony Stark himself. Stark turned up anyway and, after speaking to Christine Everhart, confronted Stane about whether or not Stane had been selling weapons to the Ten Rings, who had attacked a village named Gulmira with Stark's weapons. Seeing no other alternative, Stane revealed to Stark that he was the one who had cut him from the company.

Stane watches the news

Obadiah Stane soon did learn what Stark had been working on when he watched a news report where James Rhodes explained that there had been an incident in Gulmira where several Ten Rings terrorists had been killed and a fighter jet had been damaged. Stane knew immediately that this was the result of Stark having built a new and improved Iron Man suit based on the design he had used to escape Afghanistan.[1]

Killing the Ten Rings

After the Ten Rings found the remnants of the prototype armorTony Stark used to escape, they attempted to make a new deal with Stane to hand over the prototype to him in exchange for creating an army of similarly armored soldiers for the group to use. Stane met with Raza, commenting on his facial scars caused by Stark's escape.

Raza explained his desire to work with Stane and gain an army of Iron Man armors so the Ten Rings could take over all of Asia. Ultimately, Stane betrayed the group, using a Sonic Taser to paralyze Raza and mocked his efforts to intimidate Stane. Stane then had Raza and the rest of the Ten Rings terrorists killed because of their failure to assassinate Stark, stealing the Mark I Armor for himself. [1]

Creating the Iron Monger

Stane designs his own Iron Man suit

"Honestly, it's impossible.""TONY STARK WAS ABLE TO BUILD THIS IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!""Well, I'm sorry. I'm not Tony Stark."

While working to develop his own bigger, more powerful suit, he learned that even his best scientists, working with all of Stark Industries' resources, were unable to recreate the miniaturized Arc Reactor technology that Stark used to power his armor. This threw Stane into a rage and he screamed at his workers, demanding that they do the work that Stark was able to do in a cave with nothing but a box of scraps; however, his chief scientist, William Ginter Riva, simply apologized and explained that he did not have the same skills as Tony Stark.

He later went to his office and discovered that Stark's assistant Pepper Potts was using his computer. Unsure if she had indeed discovered him, Stane had a casual conversation with her where they discussed Stark's return from Afghanistan and how much he had changed, with Stane noting that the man who had left had never come home. When Potts left, Stane checked his computer and discovered that she had indeed found out about his plans by hacking onto his computer and downloading all his files, including his designs for the Iron Monger. He watched as Potts left the building with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson, intending to tell him everything.

Knowing he would soon be arrested, he used a Sonic Taser to paralyze Stark and ripped Stark's Arc Reactor from his chest, intending to use it to power his new suit. Stane went on to tell him that he indeed ordered the hit on him and he planned to kill Potts as well, claiming her death would be Stark's fault as he got her involved in the first place. Stane then left Stark to die from a heart attack and went to complete his work on his new armor.[1]

While Stane installed the Arc Reactor into his completed Iron Monger Suit, Pepper Potts and a small group of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents arrived at the Stark Industries Headquarters facility to arrest Stane. Hearing them blow up the door, Stane powered up the Iron Monger and got inside it, ready for his final stand. When he was discovered he attacked and killed several of the Agents before chasing after Potts who barely escaped in time.

Stane punched his way through the roof of the facility and found Pepper Potts attempting to call Tony Stark for help. As Stane was about to kill Pepper with the Iron Monger's advanced weapons, he discovered that Stark was alive and had come to save her. Stark threw Stane into the nearby motorway and they fought a brutal fight to the death, seeking to take advantage of Stark's want to help people, Stane began throwing cars filled with innocent people at him. While Stark was distracted by saving the people, Stane threw him into a nearby bus and shot it with a rocket, causing a massive explosion with Iron Man inside.

Stark survived the blast and hovered in the air, however Stane showed off his suit's advanced capabilities by demonstrating it's flying abilities. As Stark tried to fly away Stane gave chase, flying higher and higher into the sky. Eventually the Iron Monger caught up with Iron Man and Stane used it's strength to crush the suit, mocking Stark, however when Stark mentioned if Stane had fixed the icing problems of the suit, Stane realized that the extreme altitude had frozen the suit, causing it to malfunction and fall from the sky to the city thousands of feet below.[1]

Death

Stane tries to kill Stark

"How ironic Tony, trying to rid the world of weapons; you gave it its best one ever. And now, I'm going to kill you with it!"

Surviving the fall, Stane found Tony Stark attempting to remove his suit as it's power began to run low. Stane attacked Stark, who managed to damage his targeting system, however Stane was still able to trap Stark on a glass roof and shoot the glass from beneath him. Stane began firing rockets at his enemy with poor aim due to the damage the suit had obtained.

Stane being electrocuted to death by the arc reactor

In a desperate attempt to kill Stane, Tony Stark had Pepper Potts overload the prototype large-scale Arc Reactor located at the complex. As a result, the reactor electrocuted Stane to death. His body fell into the reactor, resulting in an explosion. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson, who was working with Stark, later covered up Stane's death by explaining that Stane had disappeared in a private plane while on vacation.[1]

Personality

Publically, Obadiah Stane appears as a loyal and devoted friend to the Starks; his business partner Howard, whom he helped build Stark Industries from the ground up with and his son, Tony whom Stane is seemingly affectionate towards. In reality, he deeply enjoyed the authority and respect that came with being CEO and has an extremely negative opinion of Tony, viewing him as a reckless and self-obsessed party boy who was less deserving of his company and image in comparison to Stane who actually lay the groundwork to Stark Industries and built it from nothing upwards. This resentment and bitterness eventually caused him to place a hit on Stark using the terrorist organisation, the Ten Rings.

More than once, Stane proudly calls himself as a weapons manufacturer and "iron monger" and shows that the only value he is concerned about is the one that would result in profit, which he uses to convince the board of Stark Industries to remove Tony from power after he effectively shuts down the weapons division of Stark Industries culminating in a highly significant drop in the stock market. Because of this Stane was somewhat of an anti-environmentalist as, although he made an Arc Reactor project which was a clean power source, he claims it was only a publicity stunt to appease the protesters against Stark Industries and that it would be too costly to continue the project further. Stane was highly arrogant and he treated most people who worked with or under him poorly. Raza states that he payed the Ten Rings "trinkets to kill [Tony Stark]" after proceeding to massacre him and the rest of his group for his failure and to steal the Iron Man Armour Mark I. Similarly, he reacted with rage that one of his lead doctors was unable to miniaturise the Arc Reactor, claiming that Tony Stark was able to with even less resources - which is also a display of Stane's deep inferiority towards Stark.

After utilising the Iron Monger Armor, Stane quickly goes on a rampage and destroys everything that comes in his path during his fight against Iron Man. Throughout their fight, he constantly states how much he is enjoying the suit and sadisitcally causing havoc and recklessly ignoring human life or casualties, claiming that it was only "collateral damage".

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Stane had no superhuman abilities, instead using a powered suit of armor like Tony Stark's. The armor was reverse-engineered from the Mark I armor and had many of the same capabilities as the Mark III armor, though the Iron Monger armor was susceptible to high altitudes.

Abilities

Expert Businessman: During his time as CEO of Stark industries, Obadiah maintained the company at a high economic standing, maintaining the success that Howard Stark had elevated the business to and slowly building the company's standing as a leading arms manufacturer, eventually becoming a trusted adviser to Tony Stark once he took his rightful ownership of the company. While Stane was revealed to be practicing "dirty ethics" and selling weapons to both sides of war fronts, he was still highly successful in his endeavors, remaining undiscovered for a lengthy, but undetermined, amount of time.

Expert Engineer: As a leading figure head in the market of weapon sales, Stane was a well versed expert in weapon design and weapons system engineering, though not a natural prodigy on the level of Tony Stark (He entrusted the building of a duplicate arc reactor to William Ginter Riva.). During the creation of the Iron Monger Armor, Stane served as the lead supervisor, overseeing and designing the majority of the suit's layout, capabilities, and integrated weapons.

Stane was also known to carry around a sonic device that could be used to paralyze anyone exposed to it. He favored using this device as a means to hold people to his mercy, often paralyzing them before taking something of value from them for his own purposes, all the while taunting them before usually leaving them to die or be killed.